A BRIGHT NEW BOISE by Samuel D. Hunter Directed by Oliver Butler Signature Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer A new employee is hired to be a cashier at an Idaho Hobby Lobby. For those who may only know that as the name of a national chain store not unlike Walmart, Hobby Lobby is famously a conservative […]
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THE WANDERERS by Anna Ziegler Directed by Barry Edelstein A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company at the Laura Pels Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Gosh, I’m not sure what to make of The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler, the Roundabout’s latest off-Broadway venture at their midtown Laura Pels space. A multi-generational story set in NYC, told
A BEAUTIFUL NOISE Music and Lyrics by Neil Diamond Book by Anthony McCarten Directed by Michael Mayer Broadhurst Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A Beautiful Noise struck me as a kind of Merrily We Roll Along told forward, without the dramatic point. Well, forward from the vantage of a flashback. We start with Neil,
COLIN QUINN: SMALL TALK Written and Performed by Colin Quinn Directed by Bobby Moresco Returning March 30 Greenwich House Theater Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I like Colin Quinn, I genuinely do. He’s a gifted performer, a smart, funny comedian, he holds an audience, he gets big laughs and he can sustain a themed set for
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Part I: DEATH OF A SALESMAN By Arthur Miller Directed by Miranda Cromwell Starring Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke Hudson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Where the classics are concerned, there’s legitimate reimagining through the prism of inclusion and diversity…and then there’s layer-adding and remonstration—most neutrally described as Theme-splaining. What
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Part II: A RAISIN IN THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry Directed by Robert O’Hara Public Theater Reviewed by David Spencer When I attended the revival of A Raisin in the Sun at the Public, fairly late in its extended run, having avoided most of the publicity and press briefing info—I have no hard-and-fast rule about that,
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Part III: 1776 Book by Peter Stone Music, Lyrics and Conception by Sherman Edwards Directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company American Airlines Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Presenting 1776 with an all-female cast is not a new idea. It’s not even, you should pardon the pun, a
Part A ONLY GOLD Book by Andy Blankenbuehler & Ted Malawer Music and Lyrics by Kate Nash Directed and Choreographed by Andy Blanklenbuehler MCC Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer In a way, it was like seeing the same musical three times. Well, two-and-a half. The third has a story actually rooted in something aside from messaging.
Part B: & JULIET Book by David West Read Music and Lyrics by Max Martin Directed by Dominic Fallacaro Stephen Sondheim Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer More of the same to be found in & Juliet, in which, Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway (Betsy Wolfe), expressing dissatisfaction with the end of Romeo & Juliet, noodges
Part C: ALMOST FAMOUS Book by Cameron Crowe based upon his screenplay Music and Lyrics by Tom Kitt Directed by Jeremy Herrin Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Almost Famous incurs my half-the-same show reaction in part because at least it’s not a tract. It’s about William Miller (Casey Likes), an
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TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Suzan Lori-Parks Directed by Kenny Leon John Golden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a lot of symbolism carried by Topdog/Underdog, an acclaimed play in an acclaimed revival at the John Golden theatre. Suzan Lori-Parks’ simple tale of two African-American brothers, in a one-room utility flat in an unidentified city. The
A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE Book by Terrence McNally Music by Stephen Flaherty Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens Based on the screenplay by Barry Develin Directed by John Doyle Classic Stage Company Reviewed by David Spencer I’m going to be cribbing from my original review of A Man of no Importance at Lincoln Center, 20 years
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REMEMBER THIS: THE LESSON OF JAN KARSKI by Clark Young and Derek Goldman Directed by Derek Goldman Starring David Strathairn Polonsky Shakespeare Center A Production of Theatre for a New City Reviewed by David Spencer To summarize the odyssey of Jan Karski is even more than his Wikipedia page can do, let alone this review,
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TWO JEWS TALKING by Ed. Weinberger Directed by Dan Wackerman Starring Hal Linden, Bernie Kopell and Tim Jerome Theatre at St. Clement’s Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I am, at this point, perhaps not an old Jew, but a senior citizen Jew by a few years, and old enough to remember the kinds of
OUR MAN IN SANTIAGO by Mark Wilding Directed by Charlie Mount The AMT Theater Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer You kind of sense trouble from the title: Our Man in Santiago. The title is a riff on—no, that gives it too much credit—rather a way of capitalizing on (I bet you thought I was going
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KINKY BOOTS Book by Harvey Fierstein Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper Based on a screenplay by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth Starring Callum Francis and Christian Douglas Directed and Choreographed by Jerry Mitchell Stage 42 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer For all that Kinky Boots has returned as triumphantly as it left, seeming
THE KITE RUNNER Adapted by Matthew Spangler Based on the novel by Khalid Hosseini Directed by Giles Croft Starring Amir Arison Hayes Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Received wisdom along The Street in the wake of some negative reviews (none of which I have read, as I start writing this review) is that The
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF by Tennessee Williams Directed by Joe Rosario Theatre at St Clements Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Briefly taking a survey of my theatergoing past, I was surprised to realize how many times I’ve seen Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof…which, as I think about that further, means
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NOTRE DAME DE PARIS Book and lyrics by Luc Plamondon Music by Richard Cocciante Based on the novel by Victor Hugo Directed by Giles Maheu On Tour, See Official Website Original French Cast and Original Italian Cast on YouTube Reviewed by David Spencer Despite its just-completed two-week run at Lincoln Center, the reason to internet review
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INTO THE WOODS Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by James Lapine Directed by Lear deBessonet St. James Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer As I never tire of saying, every revival of a musical is a conversation with the original production. Sensibilities change over time and there’s always a negotiation—and often a war—between
HANGMEN by Martin McDonaugh Directed by Matthew Dunster John Golden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A little known fact in the US is that, until capital punishment was banned in the UK, the veteran hangmen who executed the doomed were celebrities of a sort, almost like sports figures. And why wouldn’t they be? Men
MJ Book by Lynn Nottage Directed by Christopher Wheeldon Neil Simon Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’m as entertained—well, almost as entertained—as anyone by the by-now standard genre of pop-star biopic musical, but only a few times (Jersey Boys and Beautiful come to mind) have I been so to the point of feeling as
MACBETH By William Shakespeare Directed by Sam Gold Starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga Longacre Theatre Official Site Reviewed by David Spencer Director Sam Gold’s staging of Macbeth is probably best reviewed in brief. There’s nothing wrong with the notion of doing a stripped-down, rehearsal clothes production of a Shakespeare play—in popular commercial theatre, that notion
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT Book by Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandell Music by Jason Robert Brown Lyrics by Amanda Green Directed by John Rando Starring Billy Crystal and David Paymer Nederlander Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Mr. Saturday Night is the new musical based on the 1992 movie about a comic in
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AMERICAN BUFFALO by David Mamet Directed by Neil Pepe Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss Circle in the Square Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer It is a wonder why some things endure, yet American Buffalo, David Mamet‘s odd-duck early play (circa early 70s) about three small-time criminals still possesses all its darkly
A STRANGE LOOP Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael R. Jackson Directed by Stephen Brackett Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer A Strange Loop is an odd bird. It’s actually not remotely the first self-referential musical in which the writer—in this case, composer-lyricist-librettist Michael R. Jackson—determines to tell his own autobiographical tale about being a musical
POTUS by Selina Fillinger Directed by Susan Stroman Sam S. Shubert Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve long since come to the conclusion that there are times when being a critic means being a chronicler of the experience rather than a deconstructive analyst. It’s all well and good to expound upon why a
FUNNY GIRL Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Bob Merrill Book by Isobel Lennart Revised Book by Harvey Weinstein August Wilson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I don’t think it serves the matter spending too much time on Funny Girl. What you’ve heard as a consensus (if you’ve been listening) is largely true: Beanie
HARMONY Book and Lyrics by Bruce Sussman Music by Barry Manilow Directed and Choreographed by Wayne Carlyle National Yiddish Folksbeine at Edmond J. Safra Hall in Museum of Jewish Heritage Reviewed by David Spencer The Comedian Harmonists were a German, all-male singing group of six. They performed between 1928 and 1934. Their stock-in-trade was, the name
THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts Directed by Anna D. Shapiro Studio 54 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Because I’ve spent so much of my career adapting, writing and writing about genre stories, I’m over-sensitive about spoilers, and to my way of thinking, it is literally impossible to review Tracy Letts’ new play, The Minutes,
THE PATSY by Barry Connors Directed by Jack Cummings III Performed by David Greenspan A Production of The Transport Group Abrons Arts Center Reviewed by David Spencer The Patsy is, in a way, a double revival. It is both a revival of author Barry Connors’ 1925 drawing room comedy—a hit on Broadway at 245 performances,
PLAZA SUITE by Neil Simon Directed by John Benjamin Hickey Starring Sara Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick Hudson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer I was worried about Neil Simon’s 1968 trilogy of one-acts, Plaza Suite, being revived for 2022 Broadway. Simon was undoubtedly a comedy master, his success remains unparalleled, and I’m old
BIRTHDAY CANDLES by Noah Haidle Directed by Vivienne Benesch Starring Debra Messing A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company American Airlines Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer In Birthday Candles, playwright Noah Haidle gives us a life that progresses in birthdays. The setting is a kitchen in a very nice house, which could be anywhere (literally; in
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE by Paula Vogel Directed by Mark Brokaw Starring Mary Louise Parker, David Morse and Johanna Day A Production of Manhattan Theatre Club Samuel J. Friedman Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer Quite remarkably, How I Learned to Drive is even more effective and unsettling in 2022 than it was upon its
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TO MY GIRLS by J.C. Lee Directed by Stephen Brackett A Production of 2nd Stage Tony Kiser Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer In 1968, there was The Boys in the Band. In the great tradition of American plays that conflate one from each column gathering with liquor flows, truth revealed plays, it was the primer
ON SUGARLAND by Aleshea Harris Directed by Whitney White New York Theatre Workshop Reviewed by David Spencer I try to veer from hyperbole, so do understand my sincerity when I say that On Sugarland, by Aleshea Harris, currently at the New York Theatre Workshop, is a great, and I hope soon-to-become major, new American play. It’s
SPACE DOGS Performed and Written by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire Directed by Ellie Heyman MCC Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer I’ve long since understood—and accepted, which is a little harder—that not everyone is going to follow in the footsteps of the greats of musical theatre, in terms of honoring received principles of craft; and more,
MADE BY GOD by Ciara Ní Chuirc Directed by Olivia Songer Irish Repertory Company Reviewed by David Spencer I can’t quite make up my mind about Made By God, currently in the downstairs space of the Irish Repertory Company. Playwright Ciara Ní Chuirc, in a program note, states that she wanted to write a play about
ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi Directed by Knud Adams Atlantic Theatre Reviewed by David Spencer A sweet little ensemble play with flashes of profundity is English by Sanaz Toossi, currently at the Atlantic Theatre. Taking place in and immediately outside an Iranian classroom in the city of Karaj, it takes us through the term of a class
BAROCOCO Happenstance Theatre at 59E59 Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Interesting word, Barococo. As you might imagine, if your mind makes such associations, it’s a mashup of Baroque and Rococo. Coined by musicologist H.C. Roberts-Landon, it was his way of describing a certain type of “crisp, impersonal” easy listening music of the Baroque and
THE MUSIC MAN Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson Book by Meredith Willson and Franklin Lacey Directed by Jerry Zaks Starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Winter Garden Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer Since anywhere you sit in the Winter Garden Theatre these days will cost you upwards of $190 through $480 for
KIMBERLY AKIMBO
Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
Based upon his play
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Directed by Jessica Stone
Atlantic Theatre
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KIMBERLY AKIMBO
Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
Based upon his play
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Directed by Jessica Stone
Atlantic Theatre
MRS. DOUBTFIRE Book by Karey Kirpatrick and John O’Farrell Music and Lyrics by Wayne and Carey Kirkpatrick Based on the film of the same name Screenplay by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon from the novel Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine Starring Rob McClure Stephen Sondheim Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer You
COMPANY (Gender Reversal Version) Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by George Furth Directed by Marianne Elliott Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer The revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s trailblazing 1970 musical Company, re-imagined as a gender-reversal update by director Marianne Elliott, is very much an eye-of-the-beholder experience and you should take
SIX Book by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss Music and Lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss Directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage Brooks Atkinson Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer More and more as we get deeper into the new millennium, the determination of what may or may not be a “real”
TROUBLE IN MIND by Alice Childress Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright A Production of the Roundabout Theatre Company American Airlines Theatre Official Website Reviewed by David Spencer There’s a lot to admire about Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress; the time in which it was written and first debuted marks it as one of history’s overlooked
MORNING’S AT SEVEN by Paul Osborne Directed by Dan Wackerman Theatre at St Clements Official Website Closed Reviewed by David Spencer It’s a sweet play, Morning’s at Seven, Paul Osborne’s fictional homage to his real life elderly aunts, portrayed as four sisters in a small town, living as neighbors…two of them in the same house,
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